Analysis of Those Dancing Days Are Gone

William Butler Yeats 1865 (Sandymount) – 1939 (Menton)



Come, let me sing into your ear;
Those dancing days are gone,
All that silk and satin gear;
Crouch upon a stone,
Wrapping that foul body up
In as foul a rag:
I carry the sun in a golden cup.
The moon in a silver bag.

Curse as you may I sing it through;
What matter if the knave
That the most could pleasure you,
The children that he gave,
Are somewhere sleeping like a top
Under a marble flag?
I carry the sun in a golden cup.
The moon in a silver bag.

I thought it out this very day.
Noon upon the clock,
A man may put pretence away
Who leans upon a stick,
May sing, and sing until he drop,
Whether to maid or hag:
I carry the sun in a golden cup,
The moon in a silver bag.


Scheme xxxxabAB cdcdebAB fxfxebAB
Poetic Form
Metre 11110111 110111 1110101 10101 1011101 01101 1100100101 0100101 11111111 110101 1011101 010111 1110101 100101 1100100101 0100101 11111101 10101 0111101 110101 11010111 101111 1100100101 0100101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 659
Words 144
Sentences 8
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 8
Lines Amount 24
Letters per line (avg) 21
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 170
Words per stanza (avg) 47
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 30, 2023

43 sec read
266

William Butler Yeats

William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet and one of the foremost figures of 20th century literature. more…

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